Ratings & Reactions: Brighton v Villa

[TRO]

22 hours ago, avfc1982am said:

You're the only one calling him a rookie.

I'm also sure he makes mistakes from time to time so this idea others cannot spot problems with our set up or tactics is nonsense tbh

I have never seen a football manager, that doesn't make mistakes.....didn't Pep drop a brick, in the previous Euro final....my opinion of course.

Unai for me, has an imbalanced squad, made worse by injuries......How he has got us to 4th and a semi -final, god knows.

I am not expecting folk to agree with me......but if it was me, I would be hamstrung, picking a team, right now.....not for the lack of quality, but the lack of attributes in certain positions, where we need control.

He simply hasn't got the players to help him with that.

[TRO]

8 hours ago, Herman22 said:

I can’t believe this but I fully agree with both Danny Murphy and Ash Williams on MOTD2. 

For me neither of the pens should be given but if you were to pick one the Villa one is more of a pen than the Brighton one. 

That's served us well....Thanks to them.

How many times have we won the "spanish inquest", but no points

We must start complaining, like the sneaky 6.....after all we are at the top table ,now................The refs need to catch up.

[TRO]

20 hours ago, mikeyp102 said:

Donk played 114 minutes in the prem this season, Tim has played 130. Getting rid of Donk was the right move and has had little impact on us apart from financially. 

The wrong move was signing him in the first place.....It lacked prudency and vision.

[sidcow]

On 05/05/2024 at 16:02, CVByrne said:

We're literally done for the season. It's down to Liverpool and City to save us. 

Nobody needs to "save" us.

Every team plays every other team in the league twice. 

Whoever finishes 4th performed better against those other teams than the one who finishes 5th 

The table never lies. We've beaten City,  now Spurs need to  

[Sulberto21]

17 hours ago, TRO said:

I agree....and having a shortage of defensive minded ones, is our own fault.....Most other squads, carry 2 or 3.

We have one dedicated one, and he's out for a long time.

No. We’ve got promoted and built an entire squad to survive, and then we rebuilt to become midtable. 

We then had the expensive haircut nearly undoing the good work Dean Smith did and since he has come in Don Unai has simply made a mid-table squad challenge for CL. 

Dean Smith after a game against Chelsea said ideally you want 4/5 windows to shape the squad however you’d like it. 

You keep going on about defensive minded players but for Unai Emery they have to posses ball playing ability. 

Defensively minded players who can play football cost a lot of money. It’s why Rice cost £100m , Rodri £60+m , etc. 

Our squad can defend they proved it last season and at times this season. But injuries have caused mental and physical fatigue as shown on Sunday. 

[TRO]

8 hours ago, Sulberto21 said:

No. We’ve got promoted and built an entire squad to survive, and then we rebuilt to become midtable. 

We then had the expensive haircut nearly undoing the good work Dean Smith did and since he has come in Don Unai has simply made a mid-table squad challenge for CL. 

Dean Smith after a game against Chelsea said ideally you want 4/5 windows to shape the squad however you’d like it. 

You keep going on about defensive minded players but for Unai Emery they have to posses ball playing ability. 

Defensively minded players who can play football cost a lot of money. It’s why Rice cost £100m , Rodri £60+m , etc. 

Our squad can defend they proved it last season and at times this season. But injuries have caused mental and physical fatigue as shown on Sunday. 

Some of the things you say are true, and some are questionable.

• It is acceptable that we are WIP and still rebuilding....and yes it takes time.
• The expensive haircut, as you put it, at least had the presence of mind, and the personal profile to secure our only dedicated CDM.....and boy do we miss him.
• Dean is probably right, you do need many windows to shape a squad.....but did we need many windows to sign a CDM?....which is a legitimately crucial position in a team.
• Are you suggesting defensive minded players, have an inferior talent when playing the ball......if so, I suggest, your bar is set low......I might also say, if you can't win the ball back, how can you play it?, unless you just passively wait for errors.
• Defensive minded players, who can play.....are not all as expensive as Rice, they can be, but not necessarily , Kamara wasn't, and the "haircut" secured him.....sure they are hard to find, maybe because all the best teams have them......we too are aspiring to be one of those.
• Paradoxically, We had a better record last season than this.....maybe we have focused more on the offensive side, this season.....and with the personnel available, maybe that was prudent.

I am not criticising Unai Emerys style......IMO he has chosen a way this season to win games, with the players he has.....perfectly, acceptable to me.

All I am saying is moving forward, we need to be harder to play against, and concede less goals.....that way, again IMO we will become more consistent, and more convincing, in our play.

I am hoping in the summer, he strengthens us, with that in mind.

Ps I make no apologies, for banging the drum, for more defensive Nous in the team....as and when we can

Edited May 7 by TRO

[thunderball]

We e scored a lot of goals this season, that was a big improvement, I would suggest we just need one or two forwards.

where we need to improve is defensively and midfield - more control, better ability to lock out the middle if needed, and a stronger defence. We conceded too many goals this season.

i also think we can strengthen and improve the Cash and McGinn positions. We need to grow the squad. 

[sidcow]

On 05/05/2024 at 16:27, maqroll said:

The Conference League has affected us in the way we feared it would. 

Well not really. We're about to have our highest league finish since 1992. 

Most people thought The Conference League would cause us to struggle in the league. 

[sidcow]

On 05/05/2024 at 16:32, The_Steve said:

He's on his feet after the contact but chooses to go down.

Like just about every player in the league. 

[maqroll]

6 hours ago, sidcow said:

Well not really. We're about to have our highest league finish since 1992. 

Most people thought The Conference League would cause us to struggle in the league. 

What I mean is that it's piled on additional wear and tear on the players, to the point where we are stumbling across the finish line.